The present invention relates to a resilient shaft coupling, such as for a diesel engine drive mechanism.
Various resilient shaft couplings with elastic annular connecting links between rigid coupling parts are known from the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,115 discloses an elastic shaft coupling with a single elastic annular connecting link When extreme torsional resilience properties are desired, this may only be achieved with a series of elastic annular connecting links. In order to avoid improperly restrained masses that cause imbalance of the shaft due to centrifugal forces, the metallic ring membrane of the additional annular connecting links must be equipped with radial supports at least one rigid part of the shaft coupling, which allows for an axial and torsional resilience of the metallic ring membrane.
There is still a demand for an overall movability in axial, radial and angular directions in multi-row resilient shaft couplings. When angular motion occurs, a combination of axial and radial motions results at the shaft coupling, whereby the axial component is usually absorbed by an axially resilient metal coupling connected in series and the radial component is absorbed by elastomeric elements.
In a resilient shaft coupling comprising elastic annular connecting links in series, as described above, radial and axial motions may only be absorbed by the first elastic annular connecting link that bridges the dividing plane of the shaft, because the angular movability of the following annular connecting links is blocked by a rigid radial support at one of the two rigid coupling parts. Therefore, the respective first elastic annular connecting link, and respectively its ring half, determines the total angular movability of the elastic shaft coupling.
In such resilient shaft couplings, the resulting forces, caused by the angular motions and occurring at the first of the series of elastic annular connecting link, influence the successive annular connecting links. This causes unexpected problems in these shaft couplings in comparison with a simple elastic shaft coupling, i.e. a shaft coupling with only one single elastic annular connecting link, which may impair the angular movability as well as the functional safety of a multi-row resilient shaft coupling as a whole.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a resilient shaft coupling comprising elastic annular connecting links connected in series with radial supports that do not impair the angular movability of the entire coupling in comparison with a simple elastic shaft coupling.